Last I checked, Sarah Bennett and Sam Butcher were sitting on top of a piece of volcanic rock in the middle of the Aegean, staring out at what has to be one of the most amazing views in all the world. I should know. I was engaged on the very same Greek island of Santorini some thirteen years ago, and I know that there is nothing quite like sitting on the top of those steps in Oia and looking down at the caldera.

But the déjà vu I experienced last week at Sarah and Sam's wedding has less to do with my pathetic ability to order chicken, potatoes and water in Greek at some quaint seaside taverna (my wife, Maya, who is Greek, teaches me only one word a year) than it does with the fact that I had the pleasure of shooting another Bennett wedding recently and I've come to truly love this family.

Sarah and Sam were married at the National Museum of Women in the Arts last Saturday in a fun and relaxed ceremony. That part didn't surprise me at all. As I approached the Bennett home earlier in the day, I passed Bob Bennett, Sarah's father, smiling as he pushed his granddaughter Grace down the street in a stroller. I rolled down the car window and laughed. "So this is what you've been reduced to? Babysitter?" I joked. "I love it," came the response.

Now, when you think of Robert Bennett, the first thought doesn't usually involve him pushing a stroller or watching Sesame Street with two toddlers, which is what he proceeded to do once we reached the house. He's usually in front of a cluster of microphones. To say he's fairly well known in the legal world would be a bit of an understatement--you can buy his autobiography here. That's probably why it was a treat to see Mr. Bennett so completely in love with his new role as grandfather. He just didn't watch Elmo once. Clicker in hand, he would back up again and again, so little Grace and Ava could see the best parts over.

Many years ago, I shot the wedding of the daughter of a four-star general. Every few minutes, a booming voice--the Great Santini??--would come through the house intercom announcing (playfully, I think), "Everyone down and dressed at eleven hundred!" That was far from the case at the Bennett home. No wedding coordinator. No time check reminders. No stress. Just lots of Elmo. (I'll have to check with my assistant, Cliff, but I'm sure that Sam and the guys were doing the same thing over at their hotel.) Seriously, it was a treat to see how not serious everyone was. Maybe some of that has to do with this quote I found this morning while having fun with Google, from a 1995 interview with Bar Report. When asked about marriage, Mr. Bennett responded:

"I think that if you lead a full and happy life and experience all life’s colors it will make you a much better lawyer. In the last analysis the most important thing you can give to a client is wisdom. Good judgment, common sense, and wisdom are all derived from living a full life. My wife Ellen and I have been married for 26 years now, and we have three wonderful daughters—Catie, Peggy, and Sarah. I feel blessed by the wisdom they have given me. They are my life. The law is second."

Change the marriage figure to 38 now, add two beautiful granddaughters to the mix, and, finally, add the last of your three daughters' weddings and you see that not much has changed since that interview.

It was especially wonderful seeing Sarah's sister Catherine and her little Grace. I have to admit that it's often more fun seeing my brides long after their wedding, when they have a beautiful child to throw up in the air. Catherine has become a friend since her wedding, always quick to email me with a nice comment about my writing.

(I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Ellen Bennett, mom, is a very talented photographer. The house is filled with black and white photographs she shot while the girls were growing up. Not to mention more photography books in one place than I think I've ever seen.)

So it was from this background that we all left the family home to see Sarah the psychologist marry Sam the rocket scientist.

The museum was beautiful, as it always is, decked out by Susan Gage Caterers. The bride looked fabulous. The processional was grand, as Sarah and her father descended the marble staircase down to assembled guests. The ceremony was peppered with laughter. (How often do you get to shoot a judge with his tongue out. Sorry, Judge!!) The cocktail hour was impressive, as guests mingled under the watchful eye of legendary Frieda Kahlo self-portraits. And the dancing was hysterical, Bob Bennett yelling to me to take pictures of "me and all my women!"

Sam and Sarah, as you sit on that Greek island sipping a glass of wine: I was going to end this with the Greek equivalent of Mazel tov, something you say to a couple on the occasion of their marriage. But when I called my mother-in-law just now to find out what that phrase is, she said she could only recall the one for "congratulations on your new car." Luckily, she just called back with this: Συγχαρητήρια για τον γάμο σας.

As always, it's all Greek to me.

To see a mini gallery of pictures from Sarah and Sam's wedding, click here.

Matt